Ryan hurried forward unsteadily and managed to shove the old man in the back. The driver’s door was still open and McGregor went sprawling across the seat. There was a loud clunk and the Land Rover lurched backwards, the parking brake coming loose. The wheels rolled half a metre, stopping at the edge of a steep ditch bordering the road.
McGregor clambered back out of the Land Rover and tried to grab Ryan again. Ryan tried to escape, but the old man’s hand caught his jacket and held on with surprising strength. At the same time, his other hand rose into the air, a talon bursting through sinewy flesh. Any second and it would whip against Ryan’s flesh, infecting him.
Ryan screamed in terror and threw himself at McGregor, desperate to do anything that would stop him from whipping that deadly talon. They stumbled on the uneven ground, collided with the back of the Land Rover, and then went pirouetting into the ditch. Ryan slipped, his knee hitting against a rock. It filled him with pain he could barely believe. They tumbled into the ditch, landing awkwardly at the bottom. McGregor’s neck twisted beneath him, making a noise like snapping twigs. Ryan thought the old man was dead, but then he began to shuffle around in the weeds, searching. When his fuzzy green eye found Ryan, he crawled towards him, his head hanging at a horrifying angle.
Ryan’s leg trembled uncontrollably, the blow to his knee sending his nerve endings into a frenzy. He wanted to stand up and run, but it was impossible. He could only drag himself along the ditch in the same way the old man was doing.
From the road, Aaron called out, “Ryan! Ryan, are you okay? I can’t see you down there.”
“You need to get out of here— No, wait! The car. Push the car into the ditch.”
“What?”
“Push the car backwards. Do it now, Aaron!”
He heard no reply from his little brother, so all Ryan could do was keep crawling away as quickly as he could. McGregor was slower than him, his broken neck causing his gaze to float all over the place and mess up his direction. But Ryan was hurt, and every second it got harder and harder to move. He could feel his knee swelling up.
There was the sound of crunching gravel above.
Ryan looked up and saw the rear of the Land Rover moving more and more into view. It was a heavy vehicle, but Aaron was managing to roll it towards the ditch.
Because he knows my life is at stake.
He’s got my back.
I need to get the hell out of the way.
The Land Rover’s rear wheels passed over the edge of the embankment and gravity took over. The boxy vehicle seemed to hang in the air for a split second – like the Oblivion ride that had prompted his proposal to Sophie – but then it picked up speed. Ryan scrambled along the ditch, knowing he had a single second before he was crushed to death. His fingers grabbed hold of clumps of grass and weeds as he frantically summoned everything he had left and pulled himself along. McGregor was right behind him, reaching out with his elongated arm, trying to slice Ryan’s legs with his talon.
I’m sorry, old man.
The Land Rover crashed into the ditch like a charging rhino, the rear bumper striking the earth and causing the whole vehicle to leap up on its axles. The driver’s door slammed shut and the rear bodywork crumpled a little, but the Land Rover was a tank. It came to a stop, barely in any worse shape than it had been before.
McGregor snatched at Ryan’s ankle, that deadly talon only inches away from Ryan’s flesh, but his arm landed harmlessly in the mud. His head rose up on a broken neck and he seemed to stare pitifully for a moment. Then his fuzzy green eye erupted into a brown mess. His remaining human eye had bulged to the point where it was almost hanging out. Red and green blood spilled from his open mouth.
Ryan shuffled backwards and waited for McGregor to die. It only took a few seconds. Then he reached into his pocket and tossed the old man the keys to the cottage. “I’m checking out, and you can keep my security deposit.”
“Ryan? Ryan, are you all right?”
Ryan glanced up the embankment and saw the spectre of his brother standing on the road. The sight of him was a cause to smile. “Yeah, little brother, I’m alive. Help me out of this ditch.”
Chapter Eleven
The journey back to the village was taking longer than expected, mainly because the narrow country road didn’t follow a straight line. Instead, it cut back and forth through the rock and hillsides, and while the village might have been two miles away on a Google map, the road could easily have been twice as long. They covered some of the distance by bicycle, but after a while they had decided it would be safer to walk. Ryan’s right knee was stiff and he could no longer bend it. It caused him to waddle along like a peg-legged pirate. Despite that, he enjoyed the walk. The fresh air was rejuvenating and the view was comforting. There was nothing and no one around. The infection had ended with poor Mr McGregor. Ryan hadn’t known the old man, and yet he felt saddened by his death. Like Brett, Sean, and Loobey, he hadn’t deserved to die.
If I hadn’t been so desperate to relive the ‘glory days’, they would still be alive. I dragged everyone out here, hundreds of miles from their lives, because I was scared to marry Sophie. Now there’s nothing else I would rather do but hold her in my arms and never let go. She’s the best thing that’s
